


Tiger Squadron: Seeking Horizons

by BaelPenrose



Series: Tiger Squadron [2]
Category: Military Science Fiction - Fandom, Original Work, Science Fiction - Fandom
Genre: Disease, Earth is Space Australia, Earth is a Deathworld, F/M, Found Family, Humans are space orcs, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, No Smut, Plague, Still, and might be the scariest thing I've ever read in sci fi, codependent relationships, disease warning, like holy shit, oh but space otters are still here, so you still have that to look forward to, this is the most disturbing thing i've ever created
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:47:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23553268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaelPenrose/pseuds/BaelPenrose
Summary: The Galaxy has settled into an uneasy peace, but Jake and Callie, last survivors of the original human colony ship and first and last members of Tiger Squadron, have not. Spurred by an adoptive sibling, they find themselves saddling back up to see what they can do.
Series: Tiger Squadron [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1695037
Kudos: 11





	1. Aftermath

I, Lt. Jake Anders, and Cpt. Callie Dala of Tiger Squadron, heroes of more battles than we could count and newly enjoying a raised rank after the war, sole remaining active duty members of Tiger Squadron, lay on our backs on the soft turquoise grasses of Tildas II, the Nathian colony where we’d spent our adolescence. “It’s good to be home.” Our Sabers were parked and covered in a hidden hangar not too far away, and each of us had a pistol in our belts, but aside from that, we looked almost normal. Flight-suits were tucked away, and the scars from the skin grafts after radiation burns were hidden under the casual dress tunics. 

That my hands were shaking as they held hers was harder to hide. We were watching the stars and for a moment, it had been easy to pretend that we were still two kids who’d lost their parents and gained a new family among an otter-like race, before we’d become among the most respected pilots of the Terran Republic. Then I’d noticed the way she stared at space. Not with the naïve gleam like she used to have, nor the bittersweet curiosity and excitement, but with a cold, detached look, as though he was trying to figure out how to burn space itself out of the sky after everything the Dominion War had taken out of us. We’d been shuttled through public speaking engagements, calling on people to do their part to help rebuild the Alliance and take in refugees for a time. 

Life between the stars hadn’t been what we were told. Namna was calling and we both rolled to our feet. Our adoptive sister was running towards us and when she arrived, she said, “Fala is ready. You two okay?” We nodded, not sure what else to say. Namna had enlisted in the Aid Corps and had gained no small number of medals herself for valor beyond duty while defending refugees but she hadn’t been out on the sharp end quite as much as they had, hadn’t gotten damn near her whole unit killed in the catastrophic throes of the last few battles, hadn’t descended on Vulpexi Prime like the mailed fist of god and bombed civilian targets in terror raids.

The Nathians had two major meals a day, both veritable feasts, with minor snacking throughout. Fala was to be taken with as many of the tribe present as possible, and traditionally was had at sunset. Tonight there was apparently deep fried Ramor, which had not been considered a delicacy until humans had shown up and showed Nathians the best way of hunting the fucking things without getting hurt. Now Ramor was like wild boar had once been: Good to eat, dangerous to hunt.

There were also fruits, pastries, salads, shellfish, normal fish, berries, a variety of roasted smaller mammals and birds, nuts…the Nathians knew how to feast. Callie and I joined in the traditional blessing by the Matriarch, whose whiskers still twitched with pleasure at having her adopted son and daughter at the table again. Us and Namna ate happily, glad to be back among the tribe after several cycles at war. 

“So, Namna, how’re things going with the cross-species adoption plans you’ve been pushing?” Namna shrugged in response to Callie’s question but answered excitedly. “Really well among humans and Nathians. We’ve found a lot of refugee kids homes after their parents were killed in the war. You two have no idea how many lives you saved killing Matras when you did…” Namna’s face twisted into a look of horror and guilt when both of us stiffened up, and my thoughts went stormy. We’d killed Grand Admiral Matras above Vulpexi Prime and wiped out the Knights of the Dominion, the ace pilots they’d thrown as an analog to Tiger Squadron. We’d also lost all but two other members of the squadron doing it, and both of them had refused to re-enlist.

“Sorry.” I shook my head. “Not your fault. And you’re better than the other humans, who have yet to figure out we don’t like talking about the war much.” Namna nodded. “So what are you going to do now?” 

Callie and I looked at each other. “We figured we’d stay with the family for a while, then go off exploring the stars the way we wanted to. There’s a lot of places that the Dominion kept the Alliance out of prior to now, and we can’t wait to see what some of those are.”

Namna brightened at staying with them a little longer. “Alright. I have to leave in a few days. My leave is almost over and I have to get back to my ship. Lots of coordinating to do, lots of people to rehabilitate after they were enslaved by the Vulpexi. Those slugs had a good idea of how to brainwash, sadly.”

Callie and I nodded. “Got it. Maybe we’ll meet again down the road.” I don’t remember which of us said it..

Namna nodded. “I’d like that.”

***

That night, the nightmares came again. This time it wasn’t Alicia or Tony who got burned down, it was Callie. I screamed and blasted away at the damn aces but they were better than I was and I got cut apart.

Callie woke me. “You were shaking in your sleep.” I nodded. “I know. What are you doing up? Did I wake you?” She shook her head. “Every time I close my eyes I see Tony and Alicia getting slagged. I…I can’t keep going like this. I need to be reminded what we wanted to see of the stars before I go insane, before I decide to never leave a planet again, before I put a gun in my mouth.” I grabbed Callie’s sidearm away from her, just to be safe, then nodded. “Thinking we should get back in the saddle then?” Callie hesitated. “I don’t know if we have another choice. Let’s ride out with Namna, see how it goes.”

“Sounds good.”

When we asked Namna if she’d like an escort, she leapt at us and gave us a hug. “I’d love one. You guys sure you’ll be okay with it?” We both nodded. We’d made our decision. We were born to see the stars, and we’d help each other through anything along the way.

So when we got into the cockpit again, two days later, Callie asked, “Hey Jake? What’s that song you played, going into the last battle?” I thought about it, then said, “Last Ride of the Day, why?”

“Punch it.”

As we rose, the early 21st century symphonic metal began blaring. “Riding the day, every day, into sunset, finding the way back home….”


	2. Back in the Saddle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I remember posting this one initially and realizing my MCs were just a little addicted to this.
> 
> That said, a new mission has begun, and the Ivari haven't been telling their allies everything about what was out there. They'll find out soon enough.

The stars were as cold and as beautiful as ever, even if there was something a little bittersweet to seeing them close again, with all of our squadron dead or retired, too tired and scared of the deep between the stars to keep flying. It was just Jake and I…just as it had begun now, but we were older, harder. 

“It’s been four cycles of war since we were here last. 12 Terran years.” I couldn’t help but smile. “But it’s still home. Hey, Namna, where exactly are we bound?” 

Namna chittered over the comms, “I just need to get to the warp beacon going towards Hypori, my next assignment is there. I’m not really worried about anything other than this group of pirates that have been harassing travelers in the Enmad system, if we can get through there without any trouble we’re fine.”

“10-4, sis. We’ll keep the pirates away.” Switching to a private channel, I added to Jake, “And actually Enmad has a Dembra mining colony in it, we should probably get rid of the pirates anyway. Probably the Sclunter, getting out from Vulpexi control just made them a different type of pain in the ass.” I sighed. “Yeah…I’m just hoping they stand down, I really don’t want to kill anyone…” Namna’s shuttle was moving rapidly and we were keeping an easy guard over it, until the very moment our ships’ sensors picked up movement and the energy signatures of a small group of Sclunter battle shuttles. I armed weapons as Jake did the same. “Aren’t you going to say it?”

“Oh, sorry.” He took a breath then gave the old battle cry. “Tiger Squadron, FANGS OUT!”

The resulting battle was quick and merciless, the Sclunter pirate shuttles destroyed rapidly, their puny guns clearly not built for repelling actual fighter craft. “Alright,” Namna was clearly nervous. “We’re safe now. The pirates are gone.” I sighed, then replied, “Well, actually, Namna…there’s still a pirate station nearby that they launched from. We should probably go…eliminate it so they can’t hurt anyone else.” Namna winced. “Are you going to go kill them?” Jake’s voice came over the comms, colder and harder than it ever would have been before the war. “If we don’t they’ll hire more crew, kill other passing ships’ crew and steal the cargo…it’s safer for everyone but the pirates if we just take care of it.” Namna nodded, shuddering slightly. “Alright then, brother, sister. Go do what you need to do.”

The pirate station was easy to destroy. We simply spotted the reactor…they were using a salvaged Vulpexi hulk that had been only mildly repaired, but the shielding over the reactor was pretty weak, as though they were content to allow the radiation to simply be expelled into space. We shot the reactor full of holes until it was compromised enough to melt down, then began flying away. 

******

Namna’s journey to the Hypori system’s warp beacon was mostly peaceful, alongside her adoptive brother and sister, but she was troubled by how much the war had changed them. Jake and Callie had destroyed a pirate station not in fair battle but as a straight up execution because not doing so would allow those pirates to continue menacing other travelers. She supposed the reasoning, ultimately, was the logical extension of the love of exploring they’d had as children coupled with years and years at war against the hated Vulpexi dominion. She’d seen them at night, curled up against each other and crying in the aftermath of nightmares, and she’d herself held them more than a few times. She’d seen their scars from times skin had had to be regrown after they’d been flashed by Vulpexi gamma pulse guns but she was starting to realize that among humans, the greatest warriors in the galaxy, wounds were rarely just physical. She decided to ask Jake and Callie if they were alright.

*****

“Namna, honestly? I don’t know. Jake and I have been fighting a long time. But…other than shrinks or squadron mates, there’s not anyone we can talk to. Among human warriors, you don’t talk about this stuff to anyone but your family, friends, loved ones, or other warriors who get it.” Namna paused, then replied. “That’s true. But you’re Nathian, as well. So talk to me any time you want, okay? Please? I don’t want you two getting hurt because the wounds from the war haven’t really healed.”

“Alright, Namna. Keep an eye on the QPRN, we’ll be in contact. I promise.” 

As she pulled into the Hypori warp station and boarded her larger ship to begin making the journey to her next assignment, Jake and I refueled and began reading ourselves to explore a little longer. Then we got orders from High Command. Captain Callie Dala and Lieutenant Jake Anders, Special command “Tiger Squadron” are hereby transferred to Survey Corps duty. Your obligation is now to assist in exploring previously unknown systems. Report to the Hypori beacon station for upgraded sensor suite and to join the unit that will be accompanying you.” We signaled back via the QPRN. “Present at Hypori station after assisting Aid Corps officer with whom we have personal acquaintance in returning to her ship.”

I turned to Jake, standing next to me in his flight suit, a ghost of his old smile on his face. “Back in the saddle. Doing what we wanted to do the first time, all those years ago.” He smiled and nodded. “Yeah.” He gave me a quick kiss and began looking for the Dembra and Ivari engineers and inquiring about survey corps sensor suites. Apparently we were to be put under the command of an Ivari captain of a survey corps ship that had room in the hangar for two Sabers plus the standard shuttles. The ground combat specialist was also a familiar face. “Sgt. Adisa, it’s good to see you. Shipboard security?” She nodded. “Nice. Where’s Jaegar and Hendrix?” She shook her head. “They’re actually on a different assignment. No Survey Corps for them.” I nodded. “Alright. So we get our systems upgraded and fly fighter escort for the Survey Corps ships as they go into former Vulpexi territory or the Unknown Sector?” That was apparently correct. “Sweet.”

As we lifted off a few days later, we began getting to know the crew. The reserved, scientific Ivari officer was Captain Kilint, the Epomi medical officer a charming little twerp called Talmin, the shipboard security consisted of Adisa and a few other marines. The ship engineers were all Dembra, and the linguists, one Ivari and one human. There were no Nathian crew, which was disappointing, but understandable. “Alright. Survey corps ship Seeker, let’s see what we can find between the stars.” 


	3. New Treaty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Negotiations are done, terms of peace for the aftermath of the war are reached.

The new Dominion Leader looked at the Epomi Minister, knowing the gentle-hearted centaur was his best chance for mercy. The Chief of the Dembra Union was crossing all four of its arms, a gesture it had doubtless picked up from the thrice damned monkey demons from that miserable, life-teeming death world that had reduced a millennia old empire to a shadow of its former self, whose president and Star Marshall were now staring at him, eyes cold and hungry, as though wishing they could resume the bloodshed.

The Nathian Matriarch was a calming presence, and the Ivari Federation’s Speaker was heading up the meeting. “Dominion Lord of the Vulpexi, you are called to account for the war crimes of your species against the galaxy. Your people enslaved twenty three sentient races, and committed genocide against six others. Your empire woke the Kilick nest, which was considered a violation of a centuries old treaty at the time, due to the nature of their queen. Your species engaged in slave raiding, mass murder and attacks against civilian populi.” 

The Dominion lord contained itself no longer. “And your ape demons? They exterminated the Kilicks and killed almost a third of my race over the course of the war. You’ve all had the revenge you’ve wanted against us for centuries. If we’re war criminals, then at this point so are all of you.” 

The Epomi shook her head. “No. You had your chance to surrender, and you started the war. The humans gave you exactly the amount of damage they had to force you to yield. You don’t get to pretend you were the victim…you attempted to victimize the galaxy, you lost because your intended victims were more dangerous than you. The humans frighten us as well, but there’s something good about knowing the most dangerous things in the galaxy were on our side.” The human leaders looked at her, strangely grateful. The Epomi had always acted terrified around humans, so having them point out that there was a difference between human and Vulpexi violence meant something.

The Dembra Union chief rumbled. “You threatened to exterminate them unless they let you enslave their children. What, exactly, did you expect?”

The Ivari cut off the outrage at that point. “The humans are not on trial here, and you are here mostly to answer for the crimes of your predecessors. You will not be executed solely because you were the acting Dominion lord that we got to issue the surrender. You are now being informed what that means.”

“First, you will release all slaves in the Dominion and with your Empire’s vast resources, provide them with reparations that the Federation will use to assist in rehabilitating them. Second, you will give up claim to ownership of all occupied systems outside of your own. Systems within 20 light years of your world with no native inhabitants may be kept. Third, the Dominion is to demilitarize, and any of its former races seeking to join the Federation will be unimpeded. In exchange, you will be assisted in rebuilding by Dembra, with a group of humans you’re well familiar with to maintain security for them. Wolf Regiment and Lion Fleet, to be precise.” 

The Vulpexi was outraged and began widening it’s maw to speak when it saw the expression in the eyes of the human Star Marshal. Cold, calm, and ready. “I…accept your terms, Federation. We would not survive another war against you.”

The Nathian Matriarch smiled. “Thank you.”

Within months, the Tyrsians had widely become a race of mercenaries, but many of the Vulpexi slave races such as the Galri, the Ambrin and the Palnt most notably, were being rehabilitated by the Aid Corps, Nathians and humans coming together to bring the Federation forward.

Ivari explorers and scientists were preparing to explore areas of the galaxy that the dominion had previously kept them out of, and both the remnants of Tiger Squadron and Viper Team were called up to be part of the main exploration crew. 

The Vulpexi meanwhile continued to stew in the bitterness of their loss, but some, young Vulpexi especially, began moving forward. The Dominion had been built on exploitation, it’s future could only be built on equality…or it could be annihilated. Certainly they’d learned respect for humanity, the strange apes from the deathworld they called Terra, whose forces never quit, never allowed odds to deter them, and fought like mad demons. Humans had bonded with Nathians and been willing to go to war to protect their friends and their own, and in doing so had transformed in a single generation from a race who had developed FTL and made first contact with alien races to being the premiere military power of an interstellar alliance that had brought down the galaxy’s mightiest empire.

And most maddingly, there was culture shock but they were adapting as quickly as they did to everything else. Typical of human adaptability.


	4. Swapping Stories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Callie swap stories aboard the Seeker. Exactly what it says in the title, really.

he Ivari officer, Captain Kilint, had talked for a bit about the exciting opportunity, and discussed the time he’d found a new star in the outer edges of Ivari territory. He was an experienced astronavigator, which was good, but he had a rather radically different idea of what constituted “high octane” excitement than humans did. It was one of the ways the crew passed the time, swapping stories about the most insane stunts we’d ever pulled off…the game was made only more fun by the rule that it wasn’t allowed to be anything that everyone on the crew would have heard about already, which meant we couldn’t talk about our elimination of the Vulpexi Grand Admiral or the dominion knights, nor our first battle…

It was our turn though. “I…actually I do have something. It was during the Belt Skirmishes during the Vector Nine Defense.” Jake and I swapped a look as he grinned. I continued talking. “So every other section of the line is doing pretty well, mostly corvettes and destroyers coming through, but naturally we get three goddamn dreadnaughts plus the full compliment of lesser ships. We take out the first dreadnaught the good old fashioned way, and fortunately the blast sort of scrambles all the other asteroids into…uh…unusual vectors.” The rest of the crew were listening intently, clearly nervous. “Right, so Callie starts doing her usual thing of maneuvers that feel like they should violate the laws of physics, but she’s flicking around asteroids and slingshotting between them, guns blazing the whole time, and you should have seen the enemy fighters, they just…they really obviously had no idea what the hell she was doing. The rest of the squadron took care of one of the dreadnaughts and most of the other ships were crippled but there’s still that one dreadnaught, right? But the asteroids are still going all over the place…”

Callie cut him off and continued, “Right, so this crazy bastard just says, “Alright, fuck it, let’s see if we can get this bitch to go the way of the dinosaurs…”

The Ivari captain raised a slender wing-arm to object. “You will have to explain that reference, I’m afraid I’m not familiar with it.”

“Oh, just a reference to some titanic extinct super-reptiles that lived sixty five million years on our planet before we did and got wiped out by an asteroid, but that’s not important. Jake decides he’s going to dive in, full throttle, and cripple the sensors, shields and point defense, right, just as all these asteroids are starting to ricochet and start moving towards the battle zone.”

Jake smiled and finished. “So right before we start pulling back with the fighters on our tail – briefly, before the beautiful officer over there vaped the slugs, I might add – we intercepted the Vulpexi comms and heard the dreadnaught commander say “They must have realized they couldn’t stop us and decide to pull…” and then the asteroids started ripping through his hull and we just heard him switch to, “What hit us? They’re retreating what hit us?” And it was just…” Callie started laughing. “Oh and the bitch of it was we were supposed to get reinforcements, the noobs just got lost so when they got there it was like, “What happened? Where are all the slugs?”

“Yeah, and all Tony could say was, “Where you usually find slugs, under a rock.” The funniest part was that there were actually a few Vulpexi bodies that got recovered from asteroids but somehow that just made it funnier.” 

The Epomi was looking at them with concern but the Ivari captain was laughing. “How many of your earth gravities do you think you two clocked at, maximum, during the battle?”

Jake thought about it. “Must have been around four hundred but the bitch of it was it only felt like two or three. Inertial dampening is smart but it does take some of the fun out when you’re used to feeling the acceleration slam into you at about six times your weight.”

The Ivari was quiet. “You humans…enjoy…inertial force?” 

We nodded.

“Your species… please don’t take offense but there is a REASON my species doesn’t like being on ships with human pilots. Namely…you really don’t have any idea at all how much damage six of your gravities would do to an Ivari or an Epomi, do you? But for you it’s just…fun?”

We nodded.

“I don’t know if I should be relieved that humans were on our side or terrified that you exist.”

We swapped a look, then said, in fulfilment of a human joke over 200 years old. “Both? Both. Both is good.”

Captain Kilint looked at us, seemed to be about to say something, then decided against it and returned to the bridge. 

We looked around for the Epomi, who had rather quickly made his excuses and fled. “Ah. That’s right, they don’t like being in a room with carnivores.” Jake pointed it out. Epomi were so skittish. “Alright. Let’s check out engineering, see if the Dembra are any more social.”

Unfortunately for us it turned out that the chief engineer of the ship had encountered humans before and got us out of the engine room as fast as possible, it didn’t want humans tampering with the FTL drive to make things go faster.

It would probably have hurt more but we were surprised by the Epomi medical officer of all people, coming into our bunkroom. It was clearly terrified to be in a human nest, but it spoke, bravely. “You…humans. I am sorry to be frightened of you. You helped save my broodmate, once, and I would like to attempt to bond with you.” It gave me the most awkward hug ever, and steeled itself to do the same to Jake.

“Uh…saving your broodmate was our job and our pleasure. You don’t have to be so frightened, we’re not going to harm you.” I gave the Epomi a small smile and for a moment it looked reassured. Then it fled the compartment, making a brave effort to look like it simply had duties to get back to. 

“Do you think they’ll ever be less…frightened?’

“In fairness, we are the species that laid waste to the mightiest empire and just told stories about fighting we laughed about, so I see why they’re terrified.”

The communications system of the ship blared. “We’ve been given the co-ordinates of a star system recently spotted by telescope probes, but we haven’t been able to get ships there since before the war. Our orders are to preform full scans of the system and send landing parties on any potentially-inhabitable planets.” We strapped in, and I swapped a look with Jake as we enjoyed the flaring to life of FTL drives of a ship we weren’t piloting for the first time in a decade.


	5. The Real Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth comes out. Imagine a sentient disease that plays plague inc. in real life. And is, unfortunately, obscenely good at it.

“Captain, we’ve completed a security sweep of the system. Dantarin system has no hostile contacts.” 

“Understood, Tiger Squadron. Rendezvous with the Seeker and re-dock in the hangar bay.”

The two human pilots approached the exploration vessel and pulled into the hangar bay, climbed out of their craft still wearing their pressurized suits, since the hangar bay was kept in vacuum, then went through the airlock to rejoin the rest of the crew. Approaching the bridge and leaving their flight suits in the locker, Callie delivered her report. “Preliminary scans say there isn’t likely to be a survivable world in this sector…even for humans, frozen balls of rock aren’t livable.” The Ivari gestured assent with a flick of its’ crest. “Good to know you have limits, but we are obligated to check the place out, see if any of the species in the former Vulpexi Dominion are native to more frozen worlds.”

“Understood. Will we be sending a landing party?” 

“What? The scans you picked up indicate that it’s significantly below freezing. And you said yourself it wasn’t livable even for you.”

“Uh…captain we said it wouldn’t be livable…as in no one would want to live there. Survivable for a few days just to get ground-level scans and soil samples, though. We can go down for a little while in good cold-weather gear and check it out.”

Kilint shuddered at what the humans said. “Can I just ask how you know that?”

“Scans indicate roughly comparable temperatures to the continent at the southern pole of our own world, and humans have been sending expeditions there for a few centuries now. No one lives there but we still go for research purposes. Atmospheric stuff you only see at the poles, I think.” 

The Ivari officer looked at both of us, then nodded. “Very well. There’s something the crew need to be briefed on before we consider sending down a landing party. We’ll wait for the others to arrive.”

Jake and Callie swapped a look and sat down, waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive. Once all had, Captain Kilint began speaking. “So first, understand that we are a reconnaissance vessel more than an exploration one. The Ivari federation has maps of most of the galaxy, far beyond the sliver we’ve been in thus far. The Vulpexi Dominion’s rise to prominence effectively trapped all of our races to a handful of sectors, but prior to their rise we mapped most of what you humans call the Milky Way. The goal of the Seeker ships is to discover what has changed since our last ventures out, and to determine what we can of the galactic-political situation. This sector was mapped on our charts four hundred years ago, and it wasn’t a tundraworld last time.”

Jake was happy enough to take this explanation, since it answered several questions he’d had about how limited Ivari knowledge was given that they’d been told the Ivari had mapped the galaxy. That coupled with what he remembered of the star maps during the war made it pretty clear they’d been hemmed in by the Dominion. But it left a question to Callie’s mind.

“So, why weren’t humans, Dembra, Epomi, or Nathians told this sooner? Hell, is there anything out there that might object to us being here?”

The Ivari signaled negative. “The Vulpexi had constant low-level skirmishes with a huge power on the other side of the border, called the Keldebriar Empire, but they decided against continuing the war due to another circumstance altogether. They are excellent warriors but they were swamped and outgunned by the Vulpexi. This area, however, was never claimed by them, yet there are some indicators of a short-lived colony here. We’re attempting to determine what we can of what happened. And for that, a landing party will be required. Sgt. Adisa will be leading it. Bring full protective gear, including breath packs because it will be difficult to determine if that atmosphere is breathable.”

Adisa nodded. “Alright. I’ll prep the team immediately. We’ll keep up a video feed to the ship.”

*****

Adisa dropped onto the frozen world of Dantarin V and was immediately impressed by the sheer unforgiving frigidity. The readings indicated that the atmosphere was breathable, and to her thermal goggles it was easy to spot her teammates, who stuck out like neon signs on the frozen ball. They took samples for analysis, and sent a message. “Captain, do you know of anything that could make this planet freeze like this? You said it wasn’t a tundra world last time you were here, what could have changed?”

“That’s an excellent question. The soil samples you have might provide the answer. I’m slaving a beacon to you of where the Keldebriar colony was so you can see if they left anything behind that might indicate why they attempted to set a colony here, or what happened to it. Jake and Callie will tow the transport.”

“10-4”

The landing party reboarded the transport shuttle and approached the settlement, but they couldn’t shake off a bad feeling. Voicing this over comms led the Epomi to quake in fear. If humans were nervous it was never a good sign. The Dembra weren’t sure what that meant but weren’t willing to discount human instinct. Captain Kilint on the other hand, had his suspicions and needed to know absolutely for certain if he was right. The cameras swept the settlement and picked up Keldebriar skeletons and looking at the twisted deformity, Kilint knew even before he saw the symbol burned into the wall. “Alright. Never mind. Bring the shuttle back.” 

“This is sgt. Adisa, don’t we want to know what happened?”

“We know enough. There’s a symbol burned onto the wall that the video feed is displaying, that’s a mark, similar to your biohazard symbol but it refers to a very specific disease, and there is absolutely no information in the galaxy worth risking exposing a team to that plague. It’s…just come back to the ship and we’ll discuss it.”

****

Upon the reconvening of the crew and decontamination of the ship and landing party, the crew met up and Jake asked the question. “What disease was it that warrants that level of caution?”

Kilint shuddered. “The Kyriion virus. It’s the disease that all but annihilated my people near the beginning of our current situation. It originated on whatever world our ancestors abandoned, and it’s the reason the other races of the galaxy are less than fond of us. You see, the Kyriion virus is sapient. Once it gets enough infected hosts it can actively guide its own evolution, which…led to it adapting to infect species that came from totally different worlds. Put another way. A single ship infected with the virus escaped the dead world that our people fled. Within six cycles, over eight hundred sapient races were extinct. It finally ground to a halt but it…trillions dead, human. Trillions. An outbreak of Kyriion is a class 9 catastrophe. To put that in perspective, the meteoric impact you described destroying a precursor species on your world is a class two. The Vulpexi would be justified in classifying their war with you as a class 4 and you killed a third of their species. Kyriion is a potential galactic extinction event. And damn near was. If you want to know the truth, the Keldebriar being infected is a bad sign. The goal of this mission, of the Federation Ship, Seeker, is to find out how much of the galaxy is left after the plague. The Vulpexi and Keldebriar were clever enough to quarantine, as were the federation, which was why they lasted but if one of the Keldebriar worlds was destroyed by the Kyriion virus…

That was one hell of a horror story. And...Adisa remembered something a Vulpexi officer had said, right before she’d killed him. “You call us monsters for enslaving other species or telling them we’re gods. Do you have any idea how much worse it would be were they to stumble on what we’re keeping them away from?”

At the time Adisa had dismissed this as a lie, a self-justification, an attempt to stall, anything. She was still unconvinced it wasn’t the same contemptibly selfish logic that had led to the colonization of her people’s land some five centuries prior, but she was no longer certain that colonizing logic hadn’t been blended with the cold equations the WHO had recommended during pandemic scares of the late 21st century.

“So, the Keldebriar. Are they friendly to us or no?”

Kilint’s crest flickered. “They were at last contact, at least non-hostile. Now it’s impossible to say.”

Jake and Callie exchanged a nod. “Alright. Then…let’s see what’s out there.”


	6. Meeting of the Likeminded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Galri are introduced. Probably my second-favorite of the species in this story.

Namna was headed to a world populated by the Galri, arguably the most pliable and friendly of the former Vulpexi slave races. The one she was meeting was a younger one called Imdi, who was rapidly becoming a leader of xer race, despite xer extreme youth and their unfortunate sex.

Namna dismounted the Aid Corps shuttle, with a human bodyguard in her shadow, imposing in his armor. She saw several of the Galri shrink back from him, and Namna held up her hand, signaling that he should stand down and wait on the ship. She didn’t have to walk far. The bodyguard paused, then went back to the ship and came out a moment later in lighter, less demonic-looking armor, without the helmet, and a pistol on his belt and nothing more. “Is this better, ma’am?” Namna rolled her eyes and nodded. “That’ll be enough for now, I suppose.” She knew she was going to have to deal with the bodyguard. Last week a few Tyrsian mercenaries in the pay of the vengeful Vulpexi had attempted to kill her and it had been her bodyguard that had stopped them. She continued down the path, noting the expressions on the Galri’s faces. Wide-set eyes, three flat nostrils arrayed triangularly, strangely curved bodies, legs about half the length of the bodies ending in wide, three-toed feet. 

The Galri were easy to manipulate, genetically speaking and the Vulpexi had used that to horrific advantage. Namna focused on what she knew of the Galri. They were capable of changing from male or female to a third, hermaphroditic sex they referred to as “Transfer-omni” (pronoun xer/xis) and considered doing so a form of service to their people. The Galri saw life as sacred and prior to their enslavement by the Vulpexi their technology had been exclusively biotech that they’d genetically engineered, and often it was those who made the choice to become the third sex that bore the modified life-forms used to term. The third sex had been the ones to run the Galri government, since they’d altered their bodies to serve that society. The Vulpexi, however, had bastardized the Galri love of life and used the Transfer-omni Galri as incubators for modified Vulpexi useable as cannon fodder fighter pilots, ground vehicle drivers, and other roles that had to be filled by expendable Vulpexi.

Now that the war was over, the Galri had reclaimed many of their former traditions, including an abandonment of mechanical technology in favor of biotic, though they’d kept a few things from their former conquerors, such as nanovats used for medicine or the creation of genetically engineered organisms. Imdi was meeting with Namna to discuss the Galri’s role in the Federation.

Namna bowed deeply and spoke in accented Galri as a mark of respect, and Imdi replied in Namna’s mother tongue. “We have much to talk about. Your alliance has aided us in rebuilding, and restored our freedom after many years.” Imdi’s voice was cracking, xer wide eyes twitching slightly. “We have much to offer the Federation in the way of medical technology and biotech.” Imdi leaned in. “We are willing to engage in a trade for such things in exchange for the protection of the humans and the ongoing protection of the humans.”

Namna wasn’t surprised at this point, she’d been working with the Galri for several cycles now, helping them rebuild and re-acclimate. “Of course. If I may ask, is there anything the Aid Corps can do for you?”

“You’ve done quite a lot already. In fact, it is my honor to extend an offer of adoption into the Galri people to you and to the rest of your clan, should you ever need refuge, or merely grow tired of the whir and hum of machines, you are always welcome to come to us.”

Namna blinked and questioned herself for a moment. Another species that believed in cross-species adoption, and… “I accept. Not for me, however. There’s quite a few of the Palnt that were forced into factory work in Vulpexi forges who have developed something of a machine phobia. Are your people willing to take some of them in? They’ve proven harder to settle than most.”

Imdi paused, xer nostrils opening and closing rapidly before bowing. “It would be an honor to aid others in their recovery from the aftereffects of conquest.”

“Thank you. If you need anything else, please contact me.” Imdi bowed again with Namna, and said, “And you as well. I hear rumors of a plague in the Uncharted Sectors from intoxicated humans and Ivari. Should these rumors prove founded, it will be the Galri’s honor to assist with any medical research.” Namna had heard no such rumors. But Jake and Callie had been weirdly silent in communications of late.

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you who recognized the music: yes, even in the 23rd century, Nightwish fucking rocks


End file.
